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Populations at risk

Over 35 years working alongside the most vulnerable

Emergencies. Emergencies follow a crisis – which can often be brutal – resulting from a natural disaster, a political impasse or the threat of an epidemic. Suddenly, normal daily life is turned upside down. Men, women and children find themselves in an extremely vulnerable position. Losing your bearings and your routine is immensely difficult and harrowing, and the lives of the weakest and most vulnerable are often at risk. However, at these times, people respond with impressive energy and strength. So it’s up to us to give them a helping hand.

Trapped by conflicts

71% of our interventions are responses to conflict

1st victims of war: civilians

68.5 million people uprooted

34 ongoing conflicts in 2017

I’m scared of staying in this country for another 5 or 10 years and never being able to go home. Sometimes I lose hope. Even if it means dying, I want to go back to Syria. It couldn’t be worse than here.Nisrine, Syrian, refugee in Lebanon

Wars, bombs and abuse have driven them to abandon their houses and flee, in order to survive. At the end of their exhausting exodus, these men, women and children finally find refuge in a village spared by the fighting, or collapse into a camp. These are fragile lifelines where humanitarian organizations are able to provide them with food and water, treat the injured and perhaps save sick children.

ViTAL AND DIGNIFIED aID

While waiting for this dead-end situation to pass, they try to remain level-headed and concentrate on protecting their families. To help them, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL teams provide them with vital and dignified access to drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, food and also shelter. Our teams are often the first neutral and impartial people they come into contact with, and they try hard to listen and understand their main needs so as to offer the appropriate assistance.

Hit by natural disasters

14% of our interventions respond to a natural disaster

90% of natural hazards are related to water

4.2 billion people affected by floods, drought and storms since 1992

63 million people under water stress in 2025

On 25 April, when the ground shook, I was with my 5 year old nephew. I took my chance in a gap between two shakes to get out, and then I saw my house disappear. I’ve been living in a camp ever since, with no toilet, no shower and no running water.Devo, survivor of the Nepal earthquake on 25 April 2015

Intense droughts, chronic flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis: whether they occur suddenly or slowly, natural disasters always affect the most vulnerable communities. People whose housing, living conditions and livelihoods are the most fragile. They now have to find ways to survive the shock, then to rebuild, adapt and anticipate – and even prevent – further disasters.

GIVING THEM THE MEANS TO FACE CHALLENGEs

Because populations’ health and lives are threatened and they can’t pull through without external support, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL’s teams will respond as quickly as possible to deliver their basic necessities, before giving them the means to cope with an uncertain future, and working with them to find ways to boost their resilience in the event of further disasters.

Threatened by epidemics

12% of our interventions respond to epidemics

2.6 million people killed by water-related diseases

842,000 people die every year of simple diarrhoea

148,000 people die of cholera every year

To combat water-related diseases, it’s vital we act in advance. Initiatives designed to raise awareness, inform and improve drinking water access are essential.Renaud Piarroux – Professor specializing in infectious diseases and tropical medicine.

The absence of drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, coupled with densely concentrated populations, makes for ideal conditions in which diseases can appear and spread. Viruses and germs abound in camps for displaced people and refugees, in shanty towns and in towns without running water or sanitation systems. Diseases such as cholera, Ebola and malaria are common; diseases that weaken, kill and spread.

eliminate the disease before it starts

So it’s vital to chlorinate water from wells and health centres, distribute soaps, jerry cans, water filters and chlorine tablets, decontaminate households where the disease has taken hold, install toilets, remove waste, and coordinate the burial of deceased patients. To eliminate the disease before it starts, proper, reliable and sustainable water and sanitation networks must be built, prior to educating people in good hygiene practices and facility management.

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